Spring-mounting implement



Mar. 27, 1923. F. W. FICK.

spams MOUNTING IMPLEMENT.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- HLED NOV. 25. i921.

I N V EN TOR.

A TTORNEY.

Mar. 27, 1923. 1,450,069.

F. w. FICK.

SPRING MOUNTING IMPLEMENT.

FILED NOV. 25.192l. 2 SHELTS-SHEET 2.

fi W 7 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES FRANK W. FICK, OF AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK.

SPRING-MOUNTING IMPLEMENT.

Application filed November 25, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK W'. FIGK, a citizen of the United States,residing at 'Amsterdam, in the county of Montgomery and State'of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSpringMounting Implements, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to implements for placing helical springs intheir casings or barrels.

The object of the invention is to provide a tool so constructed that acoiled helical spring may be held coiled and positioned where desiredand after having its ends connected as desired and the binding wirereleased, the tool may be readily removed without disturbing the spring.

Another object is to provide a tool of this character having springgripping jaws and equipped with self centering means-to effect an evenhearing at any and every angle of the jaw carrying it.

Another object is to provide such a tool with means for releasing andwithdrawing the tool from the spring barrel after the spring has beenproperly adjusted.

Another object is to provide a trigger releasable device for locking thetool firmly to the spring and to provide for the quick gripping of thetool on the spring and its quick release without the use of any screwsor bolts.

IVith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certainnovel features of construction as hereinafter shown, described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a perspective view of aspring casing or valve with this improved implement shown applied and inthe act of holding the spring in the barrel ready for its connection.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tool with the parts in the positionassumed when ready for gripping a spring.

Fig. 8 is a similar view with the parts in the position assumed whenremoving the tool from the barrel.

Fig. 4 is a central vertical section showing the interior constructionof the parts.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail perspective view of the slide carrying jawwith parts broken out and in section.

Serial N0. 517,710.

Fig. 6 is a plan view or end elevation of the tool.

Fig. 7 is a transverse section taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a rear elevation thereof, and,

Fig. 9 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 2.

The tool constituting this invention, while adapted for use in holdingcoiled helical springs and placing them in any desired position, isprimarily designed for use in connection with the springs of talkingmachines. As is well known by. those familiar with the art, all springsfurnished for talking machines or phonographs are sent from the factoryinclosed in a metal ring and during the operation of placing the springin its barrel it is necessary to remove the ring just before the springis slipped into place. Ordinarily this requires a large amount of workand considerable pressure by the human hand and ofttimes the springslips and consequently has to be rewound. The tool constituting thisinvention is so constructed that in one operation, it will hold thespring in place to permit the metal ring to be removed and will allowthe operator to slip the spring into its proper position in the machineand by the use of the gravity trigger employed, as will be hereinaftermore fully described, holds the spring in its proper position until thefastening thereof is successfully. completed and then on the release ofthe trigger by the operator the jaw of the tool will automatically openand release the Spring'so that the instrument may be removed from thespring and taken out of the barrel without in any way injuring thespring or the barrel.

The tool herein shown and described, is constructed for the use abovestated, but obviously it may be made in various sizes to adapt it foruse with springs of different sizes, such for instance, as those of awatch or clock.

In the embodiment illustrated, the tool 1 constituting this invention isshown constructed for use in mounting a coiled helical spring S in adeep spring barrel B, although obviously it may be used in connectionwith barrels of different sizes or depths.

This tool 1 comprises two cooperating gripping aws 5 and 10 pivotallyconnected to move toward and away from each other as will be presentlymore fully described. The jaw 5 has its front end laterally offsetoutward to provid a seat on its inner face for the self-centeringattachment 6 which is loosely mounted on said jaw being shown providedwith a laterally! extending shank 7 which extends loosely through anaperture 8 in the jaw 5 and is connected therewith by a pin 9 extendingtransversely through the outer endof the shank 7 and resting on theouter face of the jaw spanning the aperture 8 therein; Thisself-centering device 6 has a flat article engaging face, while its rearfaceis inclined outwardly from its shankf7 toward its end to adaptit"to' rock on the inner face of the jaw 5 so as to conform to thespring tobe gripped thereby and provide an even bearing at any and everyangle of the jaw.

The jaw 5 is shown made integral with a right angularly extending handle1 which is bowed longitudinally outward and provided'on its rear edgewith a laterally extending integral arm 3 which is curved1ongitudin'ally and provided on its rear edge near-its front end with;ratchet teeth 2, for

a purpose presently to be'describ'ed.

It will thus be seen that the jaw 5 and-its han'dle't form asubstantially' L-shaped member which cooperates with a member 15 thehandle portion 16 of'which issubstantially parallel with the handle 4 ofmember 5, said handle 16 having an aperture 17 extending edgewisetherethrough for the passage of'the arm 3 of the handle 1, as is shownclearly in Figs. 2 and Pivotally mounted in the aperture 17 is a pawl18, the body of which is located outside said aperture while the shank19 thereof extends into the aperture and is pivotally mounted therein.This pawl 18 has a'nose-20'for engagement with the ratchet teeth carriedby the arm as is shown clearly in Fig.4, and at its other end has afinger grip 21 for releasing the pawl from the. ratchet.

The member 15 has a bifurcated head 22 at its inner or front end, thefurcations 23 of which extend laterally from the front face of theheadand are designed to receive between them the jaw member 5 and theshank or arm 11 of jaw 10, all of'which are pivotally connected by thepivot 24 passingthrough the free ends of the fu-rcations 23 and throughthe members 5 and 10 at their junction withtheir arms 4 and 11respectively, (see Fig. 1).

The member 11 adjacent its connection with jaw 10 has a recess 12 in oneside face thereof to receive the jaw member 5 as is shown clearly inFig. 4. The free end of said arm llis-flatte'ned out and lies betweenmembers 15 and-4 being designed'to be en gaged-byi member 15 whichcontrols the closing. movement of jaw 10 by engaging said" leverarm-'11- and'n'ioving-the jaw towards jaw 5. The jaw member 10 isheavier than arm 11 so that when the member 15 is moved out ofengagement with the arm 11, the jaw 10 will swing by gravity into openposition as shown in Fig. 3.

The jaw 10 is-concavo-convex in cross section and has its outer sideedges bevelled as shown at 10 with which is designed to be engagedgripping fingers or guide lugs 26 carried by a slide 25', which ismounted to reciprocate on aw 10 and is designed as an ejector or releasedevice for the spring when the jaws 5 and 10 have been opened and it isdesired to withdraw the tool from the spring barrel without changing theposition of the spring. Th fingers 26 are formed by slitting the slide25' transversely and bending down the portions so slit at the ends ofthe slide to form these fingers and bending upwardly the intermediateportions 27 to form upstanding lugs with which are pivotally engaged oneend of two links 28 and 29 arranged at opposite sides of the tool theother ends of said links being pivotally connected with obliquely andrearwardly extending ears 30 carried by thebifurcated head 22 of themembers 15. This pivotal connection of 'the sliding member 25 bythelinks 28 and 29 with the pivoted member 15 provides for the operation ofthe slide by the opening and closing of the member 15;

It is obvious that when the member 15 is swung into full open position,as shown in Fig. 8, that the slide 25 will be at its extreme forwardmovement, and when it is in closedposition, as shown in Fig. 4:, saidslide will be at its extreme inward position.

The jaws 5 and'lO maybe of any desired length according to the depth ofthe barrel or casing Bin connection with which the tool is to be used,the deeper the barrel the longer these jaws will be since the tool isdesigned to insert a spring S in'the' bot tom of the casing as is shownclearly in Fig. 1, andto do this, it is necessarythat these jaws be longenough to reach the bottom and to have the handles 4t and 16 extendlaterally over the upper edge thereof.

When the jaws are in gripping position and the tool held as shown inFigs. 1, 2 and 5, the gravity pawl 18 will drop into engagement with theteeth 2 of the ratchet 3 and lock the jaws against opening, so that whenthey are gripped around the coiled spring as shown in Fig. 1, thetendency of the spring to unwind will have no effect on the jaws andcannot'open' them untilsaid pawl is released.

- When it is desired to release the jaws from the spring, the fingergrip 21 ofthe pawl is depressed to disengage the nose=20 thereof fromthe ratchet andthe' member 15 maybe then swung away from the handles 4thereby permitting the handle 4- to' drop down and the" jaw 5 to openthus releasing the spring. The further opening of the member 15 willcause the links 28 and 29 to straighten out and move forward carryingwith them the releasing slide 25 which moves forward against the upperedge of the coiled spring S thereby forcing the tool upward out ofengagement with the spring and permitting it to be removed without inany way affecting the position of the spring.

From the above description, it is thought that the operation of the toolwill be obvious, it being understood that the spring S to be placed inthe barrel B is first gripped by the jaws 5 and 10 in, advance of theslide 25, the concave inner face of jaw 10 being adapted to fit theouter coil of the spring and the centering shoe 6 will engage the innercoil as shown in Fig. 1 and when so engaged the handles 4 and 16 arebrought together to clampingly secure the jaws and are locked by thepawl 18 dropping into engagement with one of the teeth of the ratchet 3.The spring may be then inserted in the barrel as shown in Fig. 1 andafter the ends thereof have been secured as desired, the tool is removedby releasing the trip member 18 and permitting handle t to drop down andthereby swing jaw 5 away from the spring and on the further opening ofthe member 15 cause the slide 25 to move forward and the tool be liftedupward out of engagement with the spring, so that it may be removed fromthe barrel without interfering with either the spring or the barrel.

From the above, it will be observed that the device may be quicklyapplied to or released from a spring by simply engaging the pawl 18 withthe ratchet 3 or releasing it therefrom and that no screwing orunscrewing of bolts or screws is necessary.

The preferred embodiment of the inven tion is disclosed in the drawingsand set forth in the specification, but it will be understood that anymodifications within the scope of the claimed invention may be made inthe construction without departing from the principle of the inventionor scarificing anv of its advantages.

I claim 1. In a device of the class described, pivotally connectedclamping jaws, handle members, one rigidly connected with one jaw andthe other pivotally connected with the other jaw and with said fixedhandle, said pivoted jaw having an arm located in the path of saidpivoted handle whereby movement of said handle in one direction willclose said jaw and movement in the other direction will release it, andmeans for look ing said handles to hold the jaws in clamping position.

2. A device for inserting springs in their casings and the likecomprising handle members pivotally connected at one end to move towardand away from each other, a laterally extending clamping jaw fixedlycarried by the pivoted end of one handle, a cooperating clamping jawhaving a laterally extending arm at its rear end and pivotally connectedat its junction with said arm to the handle having the fixed aw at thejunc tion thereof with said jaw, another handle member bifurcated withthe furcations thereof straddling said jaws at their pivotal connectionand pivotally connected therewith, said jaw arm being mounted in thepath of said pivoted handle and its opening and closing control thereby,and a pawl and ratchet locking mechanism located between said handle tolock the jaws in clamping position.

3. In a device of the class described, pivotally connected clampingjaws, handle members, one rigidly connected with one jaw and the otherpivotally connected with the other jaw and with said fixed handle, saidpivoted jaw having means located in the path of said pivoted handlewhereby movement of said handle in one direction will close said jaw andmovement in the other direction will release it, means for locking saidhandles to hold the jaws in clamping position, and means slidable on oneof said jaws operable on the release of said handle to move outward andforce the implement away from the spring in connec tion with which it isto be used.

4. A device for inserting springs in their casings and the likecomprising clamping jaws, means for locking and releasing said jaws, andmeans operable on the opening of the jaws to disconnect the device fromthe spring in connection with which it is used.

5. A device of the class described comprising pivotally connectedclamping jaws, means for holding said jaws in closed position, and toolreleasing means slidably mounted on one jaw and operable on the openingof the jaws to disconnect the tool from the spring.

6. A device of the class described comprising pivotally connectedclamping jaws, means for locking and releasing said jaws, means fordisconnecting said device from the spring in connection with which it isused, and a link and lever connection with said separating meansoperable on the opening of the jaws.

7. A tool of the class described comprising gripping jaws, meansoperating said jaws, self centering means carried by one of said jaws,and means for disengaging the tool from the article gripped therebycarried by the other jaw.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature hereto.

FRANK W. F ICK.

